Roy Rada

Rada was born in Vienna, Austria in 1951. He graduated from Yale University in 1973 with a B.Sc. in Psychology, from Baylor College of Medicine in 1977 with a M.D., and from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1981 with a Ph.D. in Computer Science. Rada was licensed to practice medicine from 1977 to 1988.{{cite web | url = http://www.tmb.state.tx.us/page/look-up-a-license | title = Texas Medical Board: Look Up a License | publisher = Texas Medical Board | access-date = June 13, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180817164437/http://www.tmb.state.tx.us/page/look-up-a-license | archive-date = 2018-08-17 | url-status = live }}

Rada worked with Michael Conrad at Wayne State University from 1981 to 1983.{{Cite journal | last1 = Conrad | first1 = M | last2 = Harth| first2 = E | last3 = Martinez | first3 = H | last4 = Rada | first4 = R |last5 = Zeigler | first5 = B | last6 = Waltz | first6 = D | title = Natural and Artificial Intelligence | journal = Cognition and Brain Theory | volume = 7| issue=1| pages = 89–104 | year = 1984}} He worked at the National Institutes of Health from 1983 to 1988 where he was chief of the Medical Subject Headings Section of the National Library of Medicine{{Cite journal | date = November 5, 1985 | newspaper = The NIH Record | title = Dr. Rada Named MeSH Chief | volume = 37| issue=21| pages = 6 | publisher =-U.S. Department of Health and Human Services}} and editor of Index Medicus.{{Citation | title = Index Medicus |location = Bethesda, Maryland | year = 1988 | publisher = National Institutes of Health }}

From 1988 to 1995 he was a professor of Computer Science at the University of Liverpool.

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From 1995 to 1998 he was the Boeing Distinguished Professor of Software Engineering at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Rada was the first director of the Online Masters in Information Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County that was launched on Blackboard in 1999,{{cite web | url = http://lib.guides.umbc.edu/umbchistory/umbctimeline#s-lg-box-wrapper-497159 | title = History of UMBC | publisher = University of Maryland Baltimore County | access-date = November 3, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150615012145/http://lib.guides.umbc.edu/umbchistory/umbctimeline#s-lg-box-wrapper-497159 | archive-date = 2015-06-15 | url-status = live }} and he retired in 2015 as a Professor Emeritus of Information Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Rada's research assistant Karl Strickland{{Cite journal | last1 = Mili | first1 = Hafedh | last2 = Rada | first2 = Roy | last3 = Wang | first3 = Weigang | last4 = Strickland | first4 = Karl |title = Practitioner and SoftClass: A Comparative Study of Two Software Reuse Research Projects | journal = Journal of Systems and Software| volume = 25| issue=2| pages = 147–170 | year = 1994 | doi=10.1016/0164-1212(94)90003-5}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Wang | first1 = Weigang| last2 = Rada | first2 = Roy | last3 = Strickland | first3 = Karl | last4 = Ghaoui| first4 = Claude |title = An Expertext Authoring Tool| journal = Information and Decision Technologies| volume = 18| issue=2| pages = 101–114 | year = 1992}} was imprisoned in 1993 for hacking in a landmark British case,{{Cite news| date = May 22, 1993| last = Campbell| first = Duncan| url = https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/may/22/hackers-hacking-computer-jailed| newspaper = The Guardian| access-date = June 13, 2018| title = British computer hackers behind bars: Two hackers become the first offenders to receive jail sentences under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160313110417/http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/may/22/hackers-hacking-computer-jailed| archive-date = 2016-03-13| url-status = live}} and his student Harold T. Martin III was arrested for security breaches.{{Cite news| date = October 7, 2016| last = Shane| first = Scott| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/us/politics/nsa-suspect-is-a-hoarder-but-a-leaker-investigators-arent-sure.html| newspaper = New York Times| access-date = June 13, 2018| title = Hoarder, Yes, but a Leaker? U.S. Isn't Sure| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180617190620/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/us/politics/nsa-suspect-is-a-hoarder-but-a-leaker-investigators-arent-sure.html| archive-date = 2018-06-17| url-status = live}}

Rada was chair of the Association for Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group on Biomedical Computing from 1990 to 1997.{{Citation | title = ACM SIGBIO Newsletter |location = New York, New York | date = 1997 | publisher = Association for Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group on Biomedical Computing | url = https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8210573 }} He was the Founding Chair of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Special Interest Group on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act for which he was awarded the Outstanding SIG Member Award in 2002.{{cite web | url = https://www.himss.org/sites/himssorg/files/HIMSSorg/Content/files/HistoryHIMSS_January2013.pdf | website = www.himss.org | publisher = Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society | title = History of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society | access-date = November 3, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170329101441/http://www.himss.org/sites/himssorg/files/HIMSSorg/Content/files/HistoryHIMSS_January2013.pdf | archive-date = 2017-03-29 | url-status = live }}

At the National Institutes of Health, Rada's team showed how various medical knowledge bases could be semi-automatically combined to improve information retrieval.{{Cite journal | last = Rada | first = Roy | title = Gradualness Facilitates Knowledge Refinement | journal = IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence | volume = 15| issue = 5 |pages = 523–530 | year = 1985| doi = 10.1109/TPAMI.1985.4767700 | pmid = 21869290 | s2cid = 18992369 }} That work led to his being honored as a winner of the 1990 Eliot Prize for a work judged most effective in furthering medical librarianship.{{cite web | url = https://www.mlanet.org/page/ida-and-george-eliot-prize | title = Medical Library Association Ida and George Eliot Prize | website = www.mlanet.org | publisher = Medical Library Association | access-date = August 1, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170630130920/http://www.mlanet.org/page/ida-and-george-eliot-prize | archive-date = 2017-06-30 | url-status = live }} One of the tools that Rada's team developed to facilitate using medical knowledge in retrieving information was spreading activation across semantic nets.{{Cite journal | last1 = Rada | first1 = Roy | last2 = Mili | first2 = Hafedh | last3 = Bicknell | first3 = Ellen | last4 = Blettner| first4 = Maria |title = Development and Application of a Metric on Semantic Nets | journal = IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics | volume = 19| issue=1| pages = 17–30 | year = 1989 | doi=10.1109/21.24528}} Semantic nets underlying documents are traversed to facilitate individuals handling single documents, groups working across the Internet to access or create documents, and organizations manipulating libraries.{{cite book | last = Rada | first = Roy| title = Interactive Media | publisher = Springer-Verlag | date = 1995 | location = New York, New York }} Software engineers link their code and documentation semi-automatically to facilitate collaboration in building software systems,{{cite book | last = Rada | first = Roy| title = Reengineering Software: How to Reuse Programming to Build New, State-of-the-Art Software| publisher = AMACOM | date = 1999 | isbn = 0814405096 }} and students benefit from peer-peer commenting online.{{cite book | last = Rada | first = Roy| title = Understanding Virtual Universities | publisher = Intellect | date = 2002 | location = London, England |isbn= 9781841500522 }} Rada's book on hypertext{{cite book | last = Rada | first = Roy| title = Hypertext: from Text to Expertext | publisher = McGraw-Hill | date = 1991 | location = London, England |isbn= 978-1469640662 | page=256 }} was published in paperback and also simultaneously in multiple electronic formats, including Guide and HyperTIES. Rada formed an electronic publishing company called Hypermedia Solutions Limited in 1993,{{cite web | url = https://companycheck.co.uk/company/02785531/HYPERMEDIA-SOLUTIONS-LIMITED/companies-house-data| title = Hypermedia Solutions Limited | website = companycheck.co.uk | access-date = June 13, 2018 }} and that company helped make the first multimedia CD-ROM published in web format.{{cite AV media | title = ACM SIGBIO CD-ROM on Medical Informatics and Multimedia | publisher = Association for Computing Machinery| publication-date = 1994 }} Sixteen Ph.D. students earned their degrees under Rada's supervision.{{cite web | url = https://academictree.org/computerscience/peopleinfo.php?pid=616593| title = Academic Tree | website = www.academictree.org | publisher = Academic Family Tree | access-date = June 13, 2018 }} For his contributions to computing,{{cite web | url = https://dblp.org/pers/hd/r/Rada:Roy| title = dblp computer science bibliography | website = www.dlpb.org | publisher = University of Trier, Germany| access-date = June 13, 2018 }} Rada was elected a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.{{cite web | url = https://awards.acm.org/fellows/award-winners | title = ACM Recognizes Excellence: Fellows: Recipients | date = 1995 | website = www.acm.org | publisher = Association for Computing Machinery | access-date = June 13, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180624210234/https://awards.acm.org/fellows/award-winners | archive-date = 2018-06-24 | url-status = live }}

In 2023 Rada formalized and funded the Rada Research Trust.{{cite web |last1=Rada |first1=Roy |title=Trust Agreement for Rada Research Trust |url=https://radatrust.org/giving/pdfs/RadaResearchTrust.pdf |website=The Rada Trust |access-date=18 April 2025}} In 2024 he endowed four university scholarships, each titled “Rada Scholarship in AI and Healthcare”,{{cite web |title=Professorships, Awards, and Endowments |url=https://medicine.illinois.edu/giving/professorships-awards-and-endowments |website=Carle Illinois College of Medicine |publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign}} and in 2025, a school district award for teachers, the “Dr Roy Rada Family Legacy Fund”.{{cite web |title=Family Legacy Funds |url=https://msdltf.org/how-to-help/family-legacy-funds.html |website=Lawrence Township School Foundation |publisher=Lawrence Township School District in Indianapolis, Indiana}}

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Category:American computer scientists

Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:Yale University alumni

Category:Baylor College of Medicine alumni

Category:Grainger College of Engineering alumni

Category:Academics of the University of Liverpool

Category:Washington State University faculty

Category:University of Maryland, Baltimore County faculty

Category:Association for Computing Machinery

Category:Hypertext

Category:1995 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery